Welcome to my blog. I home school Jenson and Wren, who are 6 and 4 years old respectively. We live in Cheltenham in England with my husband, Simon, and all manner of animals including chickens, rabbits, a dog and a handful of fish. This is an online diary. It's a place for me to keep a record of the highs and lows of our home ed experience.

This is going to be one of my very last blogs before the children start school in January, but where better to celebrate our official last day of home schooling than at the gorgeous Honey Bee Woods.

Just two weeks ago I brought Jenson here to help plant a brand new woodland and create a wonderful new home for honey bees. We returned today to mulch over the ground around each individual tree and, as it turned out, possibly start a new photography collaboration too.

We began though with a tour of the existing bee hives. Next Spring they plan to add more hives and more bees. It was great for the children to be shown the chambers of the hive and to understand a little more about their construction.

Arabella and Wren helped to push the wheelbarrow over to the huge pile of mulch waiting to be spread over the ground.

Despite his grumbles, Jenson did try his best to lend a hand.

It was Wren who surprised me the most though. She hadn't come last time and I was worried she would moan and whine about being too cold. Turns out it was Jenson who did all the moaning, so tired was he. Wren on the other hand really put her back into it.

I was disappointed Jenson wasn't able to enjoy the morning as much as he had done last time.

He did help to strighten up saplings that had become loose though.

We were also shown how to do a 'tree release'. It basically involved removing the plastic wrapping from around the tree to allow it to continue to grow without being constrained.

After an hour or so of hard work, Ally took the children inside to warm up with hot chocolates while I took a short stroll around the site with the owner to chat over a bit of business. When I entered the tea room I was presented with this scene - so civiliased! I don't think my children have ever drunk out of porcelain tea cups! It was a lovely sight and we all sat around that table for a good hour just chatting. A super way to round off a super morning. We hope to return to Honey Bee Woods to continue to support them and see how our trees are getting on.